My Hero Academia - The Grand Gamer
by TheCrackKing
Summary: Izuku Midoriya is quirkless. Powerless. In a world where monsters consume the weak, it seems fate wills him down an empty road. That is until Gaia smiles down upon the boy, granting him the power of 'The Gamer.' Izuku's life changes as he's dragged into the world of heroes and villains, where the line between righteousness and sin is blurred.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 **

Izuku sat in the inflexible plastic seat of the doctor's office wiggling his body, attempting to find a comfortable position so that his rear wouldn't be so sore. Even then his excitement was so explosive that even a bruised posterior couldn't hold him back. This was the day. The one he had been waiting for since he was born. Well, actually, when he was born he wasn't quite aware of his situation and instead cried and slept, but Izuku liked to think he was over that phase by now.

At four years of age, the majority of the population were to receive their quirk and it was time for him. With it, he'd be able to match All-Might! He could change the weather with a single punch and grin so widely that even the saddest of people could see hope in their lives.

The doctor before Izuku sat stationary, his lab coat flowing gently in the breeze. His mustache was grey, long and fluffy and reminded Izuku of a cloud. He wanted to reach out and grab it but kept to himself. The man had on a pair of round cloudy spectacles that covered his eyes which Izuku found slightly intimidating.

The boy then watched in silence as the doctor bent down and slid a brown folder across the desk, the woman seated beside Midoriya opening it slowly.

"I'm sorry, M'am. He doesn't have a quirk."

Inko Midoriya clasped her hands, kneading her fingers together until her knuckles were a deathly white.

"How's that possible? Izuku comes from a family of Quirk users. It doesn't make sense..." She muttered softly.

The doctors faced softened as he looked at the young boy before him playing with his favorite All-Might figurine. He was just a normal child who wanted to be a hero. Unfortunately...

"Young Izuku may come from a family with Quirk users but you are a fourth-generation quirk user whilst your husband, Hisashi, was only a first generation. The likelihood of Izuku receiving a quirk was low in the first place."

The older woman slumped in her chair and felt a lump form in her throat. Her mind began to race as she tried to piece together the doctor's words.

"I don't understand. Isn't there a chance his quirk is small and insignificant? Maybe like mine?" she noticed the doctors face hadn't changed. "At least give him that much. Please?"

"Miss Midoriya, I'm afraid there's nothing to show. Your boy is quirkless, and there's nothing that can change that. I wish it were different for him, but unfortunately, X-Ray's don't lie."

Inko felt her heart drop in her chest as an uncomfortable frown settled upon her face.

"How do you know? How could you possibly know? Maybe he has the most powerful quirk and it just hasn't shown yet or maybe your stupid machines just can't measure it properly!"

"Please 'Mam, you need to calm down. If you need evidence, I'm happy to provide it."

The doctor opened another folder that he had been holding. He pushed it in front of the green-haired mother. Inside was a transparent black sheet. An X-Ray, of small Izuku's feet. He pointed to at the smallest toe.

"See here? Your boy has an extra pinkie joint. It's been well documented and researched that those who have this peculiar change won't develop a quirk, no matter what. It's science that's been backed up by thousands of other researchers." He coughed. "Miss Midoriya. I'm truly sorry. I know your boy wants to be a hero but there's nothing wrong with becoming a police officer, or even a firefighter. It's not as flashy, I admit, but it's better than nothing, right?"

Izuku looked up at his mother, his eyes bright with eagerness only just now catching the conversation.

"Momma, what'd the doctor say? Do I have a cool quirk? Is it super strength!" He breathed out, "No that's unlikely. Oh, maybe fire breath or telekinesis like you or Dad!"

Inko's heart broke as she watched her boys face change from one of happiness to dead shock and finally to sorrow.

"Momma... I do have a quirk, right?" The boy pleaded, his eyes widening.

"Izu, honey, I'm s-so sorry! I'm so so so sorry!"

She lept out of her chair and wrapped her arms around the boy who had begun trembling.

Even in the warm embrace of his mother, Izuku's mind couldn't calm itself. The room was dark and the only thing he could see was a fading light of the Doctors room. He was quirkless. He had no power to change _anything. _To save _anyone_. He'd never be like All-might. Yet the most crushing thing to the small boy was the realization then, on that very day, that there was a chance he'd never be a hero.

The sun shone down on the streets of Musutafu where Izuku walked. The sidewalks were crowded and the teen had to push his way through clumps of citizens just so he could see the other side of the road he needed to cross. He continued at a brisk pace until he reached the gates of his small high-school.

He looked up at the small building, shuddering. Why did he continue to attend? No one would care if he just upped and disappeared. Quirkless people in this world didn't matter. They were lower than trash. At least, that's what Bakugo had told him, every day, for the past 10 years.

He slunk inside, doing his best to avoid interacting with any of the other students, none of which he had ever bothered to talk to. His _condition_ didn't allow it. To his left was a boy with black hair who's fingers were able to stretch meters in length and on his right was a girl who's hair could expand to many times its size. To Izuku it was like walking through a circus if he was honest. Sure, quirks made an individual. But some were so small and insignificant, or even downright hideous that couldn't really be considered a quirk at all.

When he reached the classroom and sat down in the back and felt a pair of eyes bury into his skin like sharp needles. It was Bakugo. Izuku could tell already from the many, many times the bully had done the exact same thing. The explosive blonde grinned, stood up and walked over to 'Deku', his affectionately named punching bag, cracking his knuckles all the while.

"Deeeeeeeeku," he drawled, "you decided to come in today, did you? I told you not to, didn't I? You're quirkless. You shouldn't be here! Although, now that you are..."

Luckily, before Bakugo could 'knock some sense' into Midoriya, the teacher appeared, shouting at the blonde to sit in his seat lest he receives a "THWACK" to the head. Though this did nothing to quell the stares of the other students that laughed at the green-haired teen.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Recess, class. Lunchtime, class. All throughout this, Deku remained in his seat listening astutely to the teacher, scribbling down notes as quickly as possible whilst trying to keep his head down to remain undetected. It was only when the bell rang and the teacher exited the class that Deku felt the intense hatred of Bakugo re-appear, this time at full force, a red haze seemingly spreading throughout the room.

Bakugo swaggered towards the green haired boy and swung wildly. Izuku fell out of his seat and backed himself against the wall only barely missed by the blondes enranged punch.

"So Deku you thought you wouldn't receive punishment? You thought you could hide behind the teacher for the rest of the day? **NOT** happening. A FREAK LIKE YOU DOESN'T DESERVE IT!"

"Just leave me alone Bakugo..." Izuku muttered. "I-I'm not hiding behind the teacher. I'm just trying to learn. That's all..."

Katsuki saw Izuku's notebook sitting on his desk and picked it up.

"No can do, Deku. Say, is this important to you? I bet you were writing notes because you wanted to be a hero, huh!? You're pathetic." he spat, the venom clearly evident in his voice.

"P-Please K-Kacch-"

"Don't call me that." The blonde hissed furiously.

"O-Okay. I didn't mean it. Just give me the notebook back, please. It has all m-my school notes. I r-really need it!"

The blonde teen laughed at the heap on the floor and ignited his fists, first crushing the book in his hands then throwing it to the front of the classroom in a heap for good measure.

"You want it? Go get it. You know what, you remind of a Dog. Always following me around, trying to get my attention. If you want that book so bad, fetch! I'll allow it!"

Katsuki ushered to the front of the room with his hands and threw his victim forward cackling wildly as he did so.

"L-Leave me alone!"

Izuku finally cracked and with a burst of strength and a little bit of courage, he shoved Bakugo aside. The fiery character fell and slammed his head into a table not able to retaliate due to actions of the usually quiet and timid boy. Izuku scrambled for the notebook, grabbed it and sprinted out the door, down the stairs and out the gate.

The blonde teen currently situated ass-down on the floor looked at his feet in shock before he screamed in rage at his cronies, got up, and charged out the building after Izuku.

"You two follow me, now. I'm going to end that putrid piece of shit. He's going to feel pain!"

Izuku ran fast. Faster than he ever had in his life. He could practically feel the heat radiating behind him as Bakugo gave chase face writhing in pure rage.

"Stop running you bastard! I'LL KILL YOU!"

The green haired teen began to sweat and breathe heavily as the other boys gained ground. Running in fear was getting to him, both mentally and physically tired. So tired in fact, that he almost tripped, only barely managing to catch himself and continue on for another few blocks before he grew too tired to continue.

By the time he had reached the last street, sweat was pooling around his shoulders, back and practically anywhere it could reach. Whilst taking a breather, Midoriya noticed that Bakugo hadn't rounded the corner yet, and so he decided that quickly bolting into the nearest alleyway next to him and looking for a place to hide was his best bet.

'_Of course, a dark alley while being chased by goons. This couldn't get anymore clic-'_

Izuku's train of thought was broken as he noticed, located in the corner of the brick-paved dead end, a dumpster.

'_Oh come on! Couldn't they have at least put a cardboard box or a stack of barrels? A dumpster... Why is it always a dumpster!?'_

Before he could complain any more, he heard the thundering footsteps of his bully. He decided that a deep dive in the trash was better than being beaten until he bled, and so he began digging down until he was covered head to toe in it.

He held his breath as he heard footsteps approaching the dumpster. The cover was thrown open and Izuku expected a burst of flame to scorch his skin but or harsh words to pierce his ears, but it never happened. Instead, he felt a cold liquid pooling in his hair, slowly trickling down his body until it felt like it had entered every orifice of his body.

He shuddered. Clam chowder. Expired. Clam. Chowder. Izuku sighed and wiped the mess off his face as he heard the dumpee leave. What was he going to tell his Mom? Before he could exit the bin, he heard a soft 'Ding.' Looking down, he noticed a soft blue light emanating from a popup window that was floating before his eyes.He read the text_, _eyes running over it as if trying to quantify its existence.

**[Quest: Clean that Chowder]**

**[Description: You've been covered in Clam Chowder. Expired clam chowder. How's that for dumpster diving? Find a way to get yourself cleaned up by the time you get home [OR] find a valid excuse to settle your mother's curiosity.]**

**[Reward: 100 XP, + Relationship with Inko Midoriya]**

**[Failure: -]**

**[Accept] [Deny]**

Izuku stood shocked. He didn't understand what this _thing_ was. He hesitantly pressed **[Accept]**_. _Another sound rang out as the screen closed, only to be replaced by another.

**[Welcome, Izuku Midoriya, to the Gamer Setup v2.0.]**

**[Would you like to run the tutorial?]**

**[Accept] [Deny]**

The teen pressed **[Deny]** and began walking home while the screen dispersed behind him. Through the streets, careful not to draw attention, he walked. He eventually reached the door of his apartment and flung it open, dredging along, leaving behind a path of wet chowder.

"Having a bath, Mom." he called out, "Did too much exercise in PE. I'll be out soon!"

"Alright, honey. Dinner will be ready when you're done," she replied absentmindedly.

Izuku smiled and drifted along the hallway dreamily until he reached the bathroom to which he entered. He filled the bathtub with lukewarm water and slid in letting his sore muscles relax, groaning at the pleasure it brought.

"I can't believe today." he brought his hand to his face and massaged his temples. "First I knock Kacchan over, then I'm forced to dumpster dive and finally, I hallucinate up some sort of screen."

He scoffed. "I'm going crazy..."

"At least I managed to escape," he said to himself casually.

"Why did he have to destroy my notebook though? That's the third one this year..."

There was a split second of silence, only the mild shifting of Izuku's body and the ripples of water making a light splash. Then he realized.

"Wait! My notebook! Where the hell did I put it?" he shouted, a little too loudly.

"Izuku, honey, are you ok?"

"Fine, Mom. Just dropped the soap," he inwardly cringed at his excuse.

"Alright dear, just be careful."

Izuku continued to let himself soak, thinking over the puzzling situation he had found himself in. A single day and it had all gone so wrong.

"So... My notebook disappeared while I was busy. So I could have dropped it somewhere, but I swear I had it with me all that time!" he remembered the screen. It was exactly like a game he thought. "It couldn't be..." He paused. "Couldn't hurt to try."

"Box!" Nothing.

"Storage!" Still nothing.

"Ummm. Inventory?"

**[Inventory]**

The air shimmered and he gasped, almost submerging himself fully. Before him was another floating blue screen. However, unlike the previous ones, this one had a large array of smaller blue boxes, most of them empty, except for one which held a crude picture of a partially destroyed notebook.

Izuku moved his finger slowly towards the pop-up, idly tracing its corners. The space around his fingers seemed to fluctuate and ripple, even more so as he slid his whole hand then shoulder disappeared into the void. The teen willed himself to pull out the object listed, and as he removed his arm from the portal, he felt the burnt pages of his crumpled notes. Once completely removed, sitting in his hands was the torn and burnt workbook from school.

"What the hell!? That's so cool!" He said to himself, eyes full of wonder. "Idle screen, quests, and now an inventory." The notebook was thrown back into storage and Izuku called out a different word.

"Status!"

Another screen popped up.

**[Status Screen]**

**[Name: Izuku Midoriya, Age: 15]**

**[Title(s): The Grand Gamer]**

**[Level 1: 0/100 XP]**

**[Attributes]**

**[Strength: 2]**

**[Dexterity: 4]**

**[Vitality: 3]**

**[Intelligence: 10]**

**[Wisdom: 6]**

**[Quirks]**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**[Would you like to run the tutorial?]**

**[Accept] [Deny]**

Izuku smiled and pressed **[Accept]** with slight hesitation. It was the weekend, a day after he had discovered his quirk or at least what he thought was one. During this short time, Izuku had held off experimenting mostly because he thought he may have still been hallucinating the whole thing. However, when he woke up in the morning and received the message that he had quote on quote **[Slept in a comfortable bed and have regained 100% HP and MP]**, he reconsidered that idea.

**[Welcome, Izuku Midoriya to the Gamer System V2.0. You are the only human individual capable of accessing the great powers bestowed upon you by Gaia! Congratulations!]**

Midoriya looked on in confusion but decided to scroll down. As he did so, the new text would appear and the older text would vanish off the screen.

**[As you've seen, the Gamer System assigns the powers of a gamer upon you! Can you believe it?]**

He kept reading, eyes widening by the minute as more and more information made its way into his mind.

**[You would've noticed in the status screen, an EXP bar. In order to level up, you must fill this bar. This can be done by completing quests or defeating *cough* killing *cough* enemies. **

**For every level you increase, you'll gain 5 attribute points that can be put into several different areas. **

_**Strength **_**increases your latent muscle power and attack power. Basically, you become All-Might without the roids! **

_**Dexterity**_** is all to do with your flexibility, speed and reaction time. By increasing it, you'll become faster than the Flash. You probably don't know who that is, do you? I didn't want to use another All-Might reference, okay?]**

Izuku laughed off the systems apparent sense of humor. Who knew his quirk would be partially sentient? Maybe it was based on his own personality. That'd be an idea.

It seemed that Strength and Dexterity would be important factors if he wanted to be a hero, but he knew that these weren't all that made one.

**[**_**Vitality **_**is your health. It directly affects the amount of punishment you can take, and the effectiveness of attacks on your body directly.**

_**Intelligence**_** increases your processing ability, memory and ability to understand. Also, your MP bar/amount which will be explained later. **

_**Wisdom**_** adds to your wiseness or something... What? Isn't that enough? Fine. It increases your MP regeneration rate and also helps you make clearer, more concise decisions.]**

There it was. Intelligence and Wisdom, mans greatest asset. From what it looked like, the system had already assigned more points than average in these areas, as shown by the lack of points in strength and dexterity when compared.

Izuku skipped over the fact that low strength points meant he was physically weak and decided that increasing said attribute would be a good place to start out of all. How he was to go about this, he wasn't sure.

**[Your HP (Health points) bar shows your current health. Pretty standard. However, if you take major damage, you'll see the debilitating effects listed underneath. For example, 'Broken Arm.' **

**The MP bar stands for 'Mana Pool.' You can use mana in several different ways. Ranged or close combat, support, etc. You have a finite pool, that as mentioned, will increase as Intelligence does. Your MP bar (and HP) is located in the status bar section of status. As a favor, your status screen and status bars have been melded together. Enjoy that little present.]**

**[Lastly, there are two special categories. You would have seen the title of 'Quirks' under 'Status.' If you open this tab, well, you'll see. We'll leave that as a surprise. In games, you'd know that characters often have special skills. You're no different. **

**You'll be able to make practically any skill you can think, provided you have the required stats, intelligence, and will-power of course. Some skills will require MP, usually magical attacks. Anything physical will run off the amount of stamina you have, although that isn't quantified. You'll feel it. And nothing world-breaking. That'd just be unfair. Well now that I say that, not **_**any**_** skill. You'll have a lot of wiggle room though! I'm so kind, right?]**

The teen scoffed at the system.

**[Well, let's see you run a massive network, kid. It's hard work.]**

"What!? You can talk!?" he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the house.

**[Pstttt, quiet kid. You don't want the whole world knowing, do you? Try talking to me with your **_**mind**_**.]**

_'S-Sorry... Wait why am I saying sorry to you? You're a... Quirk. A system. You shouldn't be able to talk! I mean, I thought you'd be partially sentient not fully! You can respond to me and everything!'_

**[Well excuse me. I thought you'd be grateful. You finally have a friend. Although it's a voice in your head. That's probably not the type of friend you were looking for, huh?]**

_'N-No I'm grateful. I was just confused is all. So, do you have a name?'_

**[I do not. I am merely known as 'The System.' That's what Gaia called me.]**

'_Alright, then, I'll call you System! Also, Gaia?'_

**[Nevermind that. Just try opening the Quirk menu or creating a skill or something. System out!]**

_'Wait!' _the boy pleaded.

**[Tutorial Ended]**

No response. The screen had closed instantly. Izuku took a moment to think over the facts. He had a quirk. It had shown up years later when he was fifteen and for some reason, it was sentient. Not that he was complaining. A quirk's a quirk.

He stood up and was about to change into his everyday clothing when he remembered he had an inventory. If he had that...

"Equip!"

**[What items do you wish to equip? Please place them in your inventory for storage and assimilation.]**

Midoriya threw into his inventory a simple grey hoodie, soft and large, allowing for most of his form to be hidden. A loose All-Might tee in which the hero stood proud, flexing for the camera. A pair of brown cargo pants with tons of pockets. Hey? Who knew when you'd need extra storage! Finally, a pair of socks and brown and grey combat boots were tossed in.

He shouted 'equip' once again and felt a slight shift in the air around him. Instantly, his Pyjamas were drawn into his inventory and his chosen costume rapidly appeared on his body. He looked down at his hoodie and smiled.

**[Do you wish to make this an outfit?]**

**[Accept] [Deny]**

Izuku pressed accept and another screen appeared before him.

**[Would you like to name this outfit? If so, state the name. If not, continue on.]**

"Casual."

The screen flickered and when the teen opened his inventory, he saw a new tab titled **[Outfits]**. He smirked and walked out of his room in glee. No more wasting time changing into his clothes!

The quirk menu! He had been so absorbed that he had forgotten to check the quirk menu! He opened the 'Status' screen and selected it, waiting for only a second before what looked like a tree materialized on the blue screen.

**[Quirks]**

**[Assistive Breathing: 10 QP]**

**[Muscle Bound: 10QP]**

**[Brain-Power: 20QP]**

Three quirks were available and labeled. What they did, Izuku wasn't quite sure. The last two were more obvious than the first at least. He assumed that assistive breathing would help his restoration, muscle-bound would improve or give him muscles? He wouldn't be opposed to that. And finally, brain power would boost his intelligence.

'_Hey, system... What's QP?'_

**[Oh, hey there. QP stands for 'Quirk Points.' You need that amount of points to purchase a certain quirk. Each quirk has 5 levels and for every level you increase, you'll gain 5 QP. On level ups, you'll gain 10QP. Hope that helps. I'm going back to sleep!]**

The boy stretched his arms and closed the menu. He needed breakfast. Something delicious that could satiate his hunger. He opened the door and practically skipped down the hall only at the end noticing the trail of dried chowder that he had left the night before.

"Oh. I forgot about that. Better tell Mom..."

"Tell me what, Sweetie?"

The sudden voice caused Izuku to jump. He twisted around and standing there was his mother in a blue apron, armed with a vicious looking wooden spoon.

"O-Oh, well, when I was coming home I was..."

She motioned for him to continue.

"I was walking and some guy dumped chowder from his top balcony, directly on my head!" he nodded. "Yeah, that's it!"

"I see. Don't worry about it, hon. I'll clean it up today. You go to the kitchen and eat. I'll be there soon."

Inko walked off, feet lightly tapping the floor as if she was dancing.

'_That was close_...'

**[Mission completed! Clean that chowder.]**

**[Reward: 100 XP, + Relationship with Inko Midoriya!]**

He had also forgotten about that mission.

_'That's a nice reward, I guess. Wait... 100 XP. My status screen said I needed only a 100 XP to...'_

"Level up!"

**[Congratulations, Izuku Midoriya. You have reached level 2! +5 attribute points. +10 QP]**

He stood there shocked for a moment before he opened his status screen to check the change.

**[Status Screen]**

**[Name: Izuku Midoriya, Age: 15]**

**[Title(s): The Grand Gamer]**

**[Level 2: 0/200 XP]**

**[Attributes]**

**[Strength: 2]**

**[Dexterity: 4]**

**[Vitality: 3]**

**[Intelligence: 10]**

**[Wisdom: 6]**

**[Points available: 5]**

**[Quirks]**

There it was. Level 2 with 5 new points to spend! He felt ecstatic. For once he had made progress. With this, he could be a hero. He'd need to train and do quests, sure. But eventually, he'd catch up to Bakugo and the others, and maybe even pass them! He'd be able to save people! Most importantly, he wouldn't be looked down upon anymore. He wasn't quirkless 'Deku' anymore. He was 'Izuku Midoriya: The Grand Gamer!'

He ran into the kitchen and scoffed down his breakfast. It was amazing as always. For some reason, though, he felt more energized.

**[Bacon and Eggs: +50 HP +20 MP]**

If this was true, then his mothers cooking could only be compared to Lunch Rush, the pro hero and chef of choice for UA academy! The teen then scrambled to the fridge and opened his inventory. He tossed in apples, bananas, cheese, chocolate, biscuits and more. Basically, anything he could get his hands on that wouldn't be sorely missed.

Whilst he did so, his mind traveled elsewhere. He was told by System that he should test his abilities, but he had nowhere to do that. His apartment was too small and even though he was weak right now, he didn't want to test how much damage he could cause. He ran back to his room, first thanking his mother for dinner, then sat down at his computer.

"Come on! Come on," he stated impatiently. "There's gotta be some sort of abandoned railway yard or something nearby."

He continued to scroll through page after page until an article caught his eye. 'Dagobah Municipal Beach Park.' In the past, it was a popular dating spot but now, years on, the beach had become a dumping spot for garbage and waste alike. It was filled to the brim with old appliances, utensils, practically anything you could think of.

It was noted further down that the beach never had anyone visitors anymore. People didn't want to stay due to the stench and those who tried to dump there found that there was no longer room. The government and hero association had also been too lazy to clean it thus far, and Izuku was pretty sure that'd never change.

"It's perfect!" he announced happily.

The perfect place. No one would find him. He'd have a place to train and objects to test his skills on. And maybe, he could help clean up the beach a little later, when he had grown stronger.

He spun around on his chair, grabbed his backpack with the necessities and headed out the door. Sure, he had an inventory, but it was nice to carry something. Made him feel alive. Yes, he knew that was stupid.

"I'm heading out, Mom! I'll see you in a couple of hours! Love you!"

He slammed the door and ran out. Inko sighed.

"Izu? Where are you going?"

She heard the front door slam as Izuku ran out and laughed lightly.

"Teens these days! No respect."

After a short bus ride, Izuku had reached the main stretch of road that connected to Dagobah. Now, he was witnessing the actual state of the mess that had been reported in the article for himself. It was even worse than what was shown in pictures.

The trash piles reached several meters upwards. Cars lay strewn about, rusting and breaking down in the salted air. And the smell... It was atrocious. Atrocious _but_ bearable. While Izuku felt bad that the beach had been turned into this dump, he was also excited. It was time to test his abilities.

He stood in a small clearing, amidst the piles of garbage.

"How about we start with something simple? I'll try hitting something and see what happens. Cause and effect."

Izuku threw down his backpack and went to the nearest mound. He located a dishwasher with its piping still exposed. With a little wrenching and a lot of effort, he managed to acquire a rusty iron pipe.

He stared at the pipe for a moment then attempted a couple of swings, testing the weight and feel of it.

"Not bad for a first weapon, I suppose."

He continued to look at the pipe.

**[Skill Created: Observe. Cost: Passive.]**

"Huh?"

**[Observe (Level 1): Gather information from an object, person, etc without knowing them. Amount and detail of information will increase at higher levels.]**

"My first skill! Sweet!"

The teen was exhilarated. He stared at a hair dryer sitting upon a trash can.

_'Observe'_

**[Hair dryer: An item created and used by humans to style or dry their hair. Runs on electricity.]**

**[Item durability 0/10]**

He then looked at the pipe he was holding tightly once again.

**[Iron Pipe: A basic pipe made of iron once attached to machinery or an appliance of some sort. Also good as a makeshift weapon.]**

**[Durability: 4/10]**

For the next half an hour, the teen spammed observe on every conceivable object. During that time, the brand new skill leveled up 3 separate times. By the time the skill was level four, Izuku had decided that it was time to create another skill.

He walked over to the same washing machine, gripping the iron pipe tightly, and swung with as much force as he could muster.

**[Skill Created: Blunt Weapons Mastery.]**

**[Blunt Weapons Mastery (Level 1): Your experience with blunt weapons. Increasing this level will increase the damage you do with, you guessed it, blunt weapons. +5% damage for every level.]**

**[Skill Created: Heavy Swing.]**

**[Heavy Swing (Level 1): You swing your weapon hard! +10% damage per hit with certain weapons. +5% bonus per level.]**

"Two new skills! W-Woah... They seem pretty powerful. I wonder why the washer didn't take damage though?"

**[Simple. Inorganic life forms won't take damage direct damage. They only have durability. Beat it enough, it'll break. Even some organic things like trees won't take direct damage. They'll also have durability. You won't be notified how much durability they've lost, but that shouldn't be a problem since you have 'Observe.' TL;DR, monsters, humans, and animals have health. Everything else doesn't.]**

"Monsters!?" the boy squeaked.

**[Forget I said anything.]**

"I don't trust you."

There was no response.

"God damn it."

**[Language, Izuku. You're swearing like a sailor.]**

Izuku growled and closed the menu returning to his pastime of beating the dishwasher.

**[Skill 'Blunt Weapons Mastery' has reached level 2! +10% damage!]**

**[Skill 'Heavy Swing' has reached level 2! +15% damage per hit with a blunt weapon!]**

The boy coughed and spluttered. His back was pooled with sweat and his arms were strained and sore.

"Guess I don't have much stamina after all..." he huffed. "That was only 20 or so swings. Damn."

He tried to swing his makeshift weapon a few more times.

"I really... need to... improve... my body..." His breathing was now erratic and the teen fell on his butt.

**[For straining your body you have gained +1 strength!]**

"What!? I just gained a free point?"

The teen thought over his activities.

"Exercise. I need to do more exercise. That's probably why. If it's saying that I gained a point for strenuous activity then can I gain more if I do other activities? Exercise for strength and maybe dexterity and I'm assuming puzzles and books would stimulate the mind meaning a boost in intelligence. What about wisdom and vitality then?"

**[For making a logical deduction, you have gained +1 Wisdom!]**

"Huh, that answers half that question."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It had been a week since Izuku had been to Dagobah. He spent Sunday training his **[Heavy Swing] **and **[Blunt Weapons Mastery]** until both were level 3. This allowed him to do some heavy damage to the junk on the beach, but he knew if he were in a real fight, he couldn't rely on the power of his hits to save his skin. He'd get winded too easily and would be open for attack.

The rest of the week had gone relatively well. He had gotten beaten by Bakugo on the way to school Monday, but honestly, after a while, it didn't hurt that badly. He was sure it was due to his new skill which had levelled up 4 times in the process.

**[Physical Resistance (Level 4): Your ability to cope with physical trauma such as punches and kicks. 2% for every level. Currently +8% to physical resistance!]**

It was Saturday again finally and that meant another strenuous weekend of grinding out skills. Well, the few skills he had so far.

He'd also decided that at this point, he should begin training his body. If he wanted to get into UA, he needed all the additional benefits he could muster. The other entrants would've had years developing their quirks and readying their bodies for the future but Izuku hadn't. A healthy body would be a start. So, he'd need to begin working out. A lot.

The plan was that every afternoon, after school, he'd head straight to Dagobah beach. There, he'd complete an hour worth of activities on a rotating schedule to work out all the muscles in his body instead of just a few. He'd spent the last week researching and documenting the best fitness plans and decided he'd rather remain lean and mean than buffed and roided out. That'd slow him down, and there's no chance he'd be able to deal with a loss of speed. That was currently his greatest asset, at least in his running away from Bakugo.

To combat his lack of stamina and aid in the ability to increase his workout lengths, the teen had decided to purchase his first real quirk, **[Assistive Breathing]**. He hadn't purchased it yet, instead of waiting for the weekend when he could better weigh his options.

He opened the quirk menu and noticed it was only 10 QP. For that price, it had a myriad of benefits. When he had clicked on the quirk, it'd brought up a small box detailing and explaining the modifications it would provide his body.

**[Assistive Breathing: Your body produces excess haemoglobin. This excess means that you have more oxygen fed into each part of your body, and in larger number. Mitochondric reactions thus increase also. Your stamina will practically double. For every level of this quirk advanced, your body will produce more haemoglobin than before and you'll consume less energy when completing strenuous activities.]**

"That's gonna be extremely helpful."

He gulped in a large amount of air.

"It's nothing powerful, sure, but it's the first edge I have over others," he smirked. "I should be able to work harder with it and It'll increase my gains exponentially. Even if nobody knows, I need to make this power my own."

With that, it was decided. When he pressed **[Purchase]**, his body instantly transformed. It felt like his veins were on fire, a thousand white-hot knives slicing away at his DNA, afterward being forcibly reformed. A minute passed and finally, the pain ceased. The youth was left a slobbering mess on the floor. He groaned.

"Damn it. That hurt like hell."

He breathed out several times then stood shakily, opening his status menu.

**[Status Screen]**

**[Name: Izuku Midoriya, Age: 15]**

**[Title(s): The Grand Gamer]**

**[Level 2: 0/200 XP]**

**[Attributes]**

**[Strength: 3]**

**[Dexterity: 4]**

**[Vitality: 3]**

**[Intelligence: 10]**

**[Wisdom: 7]**

**[Points available: 5]**

**[Quirks]**

**[Assistive Breathing]**

"There it is... Assistive breathing." he smiled.

"Oh, and I have some unused points. Guess I should use those on something eventually."

He paused.

"It's probably better to save them for now, actually. I can gain points by training first but I don't know how long that'll last..."

The teen sauntered out of his room and out the front door whilst his mother slept comfortably, laid upon her satin sheets like a large panda. He left her a note so she'd know where he was, otherwise she'd be worried and would constantly call him. She could get a _tad_ overprotective and a little incessant but that was in her nature and Izuku loved her for it.

He'd have to guess that if she was a hero, she'd likely be All-Might's female version, Mom-Might! Sworn protector of the innocent. They'd never be hurt, only because she'd never let them go outside in the first place. He smirked at this and made his way to the bus.

After carrying countless tires, Izuku moved onto throwing girders into their respective pile. This helped work his upper body, shoulders, and back. Within minutes his muscles felt tense and sore like they had been locked in place and superheated.

He moved towards an old bench he'd laid out previously. It was rusting slightly and its paint was chipped in some places, fading in others but was in otherwise good condition. Izuku placed a towel on the steel surface providing him a soft resting place to lie down. He'd dug two large poles into the ground, their tops chipped away providing the perfect indent for another metal bar to rest horizontally. Loosely fitted to the bar was a pair of steel rims, one on either side. With a little elbow grease, the intuitive setup now worked as a makeshift bench-press.

He applauded himself satisfactorily. It was a pretty good turnout.

He started completing multiple sets of military presses, the cold metal of the bar pressing into his hands. He continued like this for a while until his pectorals and triceps were on fire. When he couldn't take the pain anymore, he decided to proceed to the next exercise.

"What was it again?"

Out of seemingly nowhere, the teen pulled out a wrinkled note. It was full of scribbled handwriting and crudely drawn figures engaged in different exercises.

"Ah, here it is... Rows" he sat up, sweat pooling on his forehead "then lunges, bicep curls a 10-kilometer jog."

He breathed out forcefully than in again filling his lungs to their max.

"The hell was I thinking?"

His feet began to move.

"Looks like I've got my work cut out here..."

The sand seemed cold under his feet. It wormed its way into all the little crevices of his shoes, down the hem of his socks, and into the small gaps between his toes. Izuku cringed at the feeling shaking his shoes vehemently as he finished up his run. His clothes were damp with sweat and he felt like he was going to throw up.

He'd managed to do it though. 10 kilometres. Provided, he'd walked a little of it and almost completely collapsed 5 kilometres in, but that didn't need to be mentioned.

**[For straining your body, you've gained +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Vitality.]**

The teen smiled in apparent happiness and glee. His efforts hadn't been put to waste for the last however long. The sweat, the pain, the strain. This was the result. Izuku was a little over-enthusiastic but he swore he could feel muscles forming already!

A screen popped up before his eyes and made a loud 'Ding', scaring him out of his thoughts. He jumped in fright and landed on his ass in a pile of freshly washed up seaweed.

"God damn it."

**[Quest: Buff Boy]**

**[Description: Look at you, handsome man. You've discovered that having a healthy body is important in surviving in this world. How about a little more muscle, though? Gain +5 Strength by the end of the month. Maybe then you'll be ready for a proper relationship!]**

**[Reward: 1000 XP, Pair of training weights, + Relationship with Females]**

**[Failure: You're a bum.]**

**[Accept] [Deny]**

"Another quest! Finally! Oh, and that reward..." he salivated at the thought of a 1000 XP but froze soon after when re-reading the quest's description.

"I'm just going to ignore the fact that you've basically called me lanky, System."

**[Well, you are right now. You can't blame me. You literally have no muscle. You're basically all bone and baby fat.]**

Izuku sighed and began walking towards the bus stop his arms hanging limply at his sides.

**[You do realize it's almost 7:00 PM, right?]**

The teen flipped his head up and stared at the sky.

"Huh." He coughed loudly. "When did that happen?"

**[Possibly when you were so focused on trying to lift those weights. You know, when you kept whimpering each time you hit your head on the bar.]**

"That never happened!"

**[Yes it did! You can't lie to me. I saw it with my own eyes.]**

"You don't even have eyes."

He ignored the annoying voices response.

"I'm just gonna walk home. Probably best not to stink out the bus."

"System, what exactly are you?"

**[...]**

"Oh come on. Look, I'm sorry for ignoring you before. Is that what you wanted?"

**[Yes.]**

The boy shook his head.

"I'll ask again then. What exactly _are_ you?"

**[Huh, that's an exceptionally odd question. What do you mean?]**

"An odd question, huh?" He snickered. "Says you, the disembodied voice in my head."

**[You're going to start this again?]**

Izuku scoffed.

"I just mean, what are you? You never really told me. Are you my quirk? Are you ingrained in my DNA? Are you the spirit of an elderly man who died and has decided to haunt a teenager? Because if you are-"

The teen was cut off by what felt like a mental lash to the face.

**[What in Gaia's name are you talking about, Izuku? I'm not some random old man. I'm System! It's that simple. Is it that hard for you to recognize?]**

With a hand on his head, Izuku thought for a second. He pondered the existence of System but eventually gave up when his head began to pound. He decided it was better to stop thinking as he didn't want his extremity to explode in a fountain of blood and brain juice.

"I-I suppose so. I'm just not used to being effectively possessed."

**[I'm not possessing you. I told you, I'm a gift of Gaia.]**

The male voice was scratchy but somehow sounded tired. Izuku wondered how this was possible when System was basically an AI.

**[You know what? Just think of me as a quirk.]**

**[I'm your quirk, ok? You know there are other kids that have like... weird voices in their heads as well. You're not the only one.]**

"I know that, but most of those kids either have a mental illness or some cool sentient quirk that gives life to an object or a body or like a shadow demon or something. You're just... You."

**[I'll have you know that I can be cool as well! I'm like the best big brother in the world!]**

"Mhm, old man."

The teen smirked then began laughing loudly. He really _was_ an old man. He kept calling Izuku boy. He never swore. And now, he was trying to tell Izuku how 'cool' he was. He sounded like a father trying to hip with the kids!

**[He-]**

Before System could respond an ear-shattering scream rang out from an alleyway nearby ringing in Izuku's ears. It was so loud, so extremely powerful that he thought it would shatter the glass around him in seconds. It continued to ring out then echoed off the walls of the nearby brick buildings and dispersed.

"I need to find that person... They could be in danger!"

**[First of all, try talking in your head. You don't want a random on the street to think you're crazy, no? And be careful kid, it could be an extremely dangerous armed thug or a setup and right now you'd struggle with even beating a basic quirk user in combat. You're not ready. Talk about a hero complex...]**

_'I'll figure something out!' _he shouted violently in his mind.

The boy rounded a corner with haste, feet impacting on the concrete beneath him. He readied the metal pipe, freshly pulled from his inventory and held it beside him hands gripped tightly around it.

When he finally stopped running, he saw a scene that was a scene straight out of a crime novel. A lady stood pushed against the alley wall, her hands raised in the worldwide sign of

She was tall; At least 6 ft. and a fair bit taller than Izuku at his current height. Her blonde hair fell to her shoulders in slightly curled bangs. She also had quite the bust, to say the least. Her hands were also raised in the universal symbol of surrender.

To her front, bent on the ground, was a short man. He wore a black shirt and balaclava was digging through the woman's purse with speed, throwing out anything that wasn't of value and stuffing that of what was into a small burlap sack.

To his left was a taller, well-built gentleman equipped with a ski mask and short steel knife that was holstered on his waist. He kicked his partner lightly in the side.

"Mike, what's taking you so fucking long, dude? We haven't got much time!"

"Just calm down, Stevo. There's a lot of good shit here. Phone, wallet with quite a bit of cash, some jewellery even! It's the fuckin' jackpot for low-lives like us!"

The woman clicked her tongue in anger.

"At least you two scum know what you are!"

The man standing turned to the woman and slapped her.

"Fuck up, blondie. We weren't asking for your input. Now hurry the fuck up Mike, the coppers are probably roaming around the area, not to mention those fuckin' heroes."

"W-What's going on here?"

Izuku tried to sound as confident as possible but ended up faltering. After all, he'd never actually _faced_ a villain before, let alone one with a weapon that could potentially kill him.

This man turned towards Izuku in confusion and immediately withdrew his weapon.

"Who the fuck are you, kid? Why are you interrupting the adults?"

"I'm just a citizen who's concerned o-over the lives of another! Y-You two seem to b-be committing a crime!"

The man put away his knife and laughed lightly which shortly turned into an uproar of wheezing and snorting.

"Look, kid, we're criminals. This is what we do. If you run along now and just leave without saying anything, we don't have to do anything. I'll even give you some of the ladies' money to go buy a lollipop or some shit."

He grinned and held out a 1000 yen note.

"That's all we can offer. Now off you go."

The green haired teen stepped back.

"I don't want the m-money. I w-want you to l-let the lady go!"

The thug stepped towards Izuku but was stopped by the shout of the blonde.

"Don't even think about touching that boy!"

"I don't think you realize, sweetheart," he growled and turned to her. "But you're in no position to demand anything."

Izuku stood stunned. The lady was standing up for him even though he was the one who had come to save _her_. Whilst the man was turned around, Izuku palmed his pipe and readied himself.

"You know, Blondie, you're kinda rocking in all the right places." He smirked and helped his buddy of the floor. "Not to mention, we're in an alley. No one would hear you, so long as that kid was taken care of, of course. What do you think, Mike?"

"I think your right, Stevo."

The woman spat on the ground in response which angered the two men.

"Oh, that's fuckin' it."

He was about to slap her again but heard the same voice of the timid green haired scoundrel who to his dismay, was still standing there.

"Thought you would've tried to book it by now, kid. Guess you're dumber than you look!"

He once again pulled out his serrated blade and turned to the kid.

"Mike, take care of the woman. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

Mike smirked and pulled out his own small knife from his pocket.

"No problem, Stevo. Kill em'!"

The taller criminal swaggered towards Izuku, tapping the hardened steel of his soon to be murder weapon on his free hand.

"You know what I can't stand, kid? The fuckin' hero type! Walkin' 'round like they're gonna save the lives of every person they find." He roared. "They can't do shit, those do-gooders. Fuckin' hate them!"

He paused for a second and stared at Izuku, eyes digging deeply into the boys own.

"Bet your one of those types, ey'?" He smirked. "You're fuckin' dead!"

He charged at the expectant teen and swung his blade with hate in his eyes. The blade scraped against the soft flesh of Izuku's arm but didn't sink in.

"You fuckin' shit! You're gonna bleed bad. Gonna' be shoutin' for one of those fuckin' heroes soon! Well, fuck you! They ain't gonna save you!"

'_Fuck... I don't know how I'm gonna hit him.'_

**[You're going to have to feint him or annoy him somehow, then whilst he's open you can attack. He doesn't know you have the pipe since you've hidden it in your inventory. You can equip it with a mental command. Try hitting his leg to disable his movement.]**

_'Guess that's the best way. T-Thanks, System.'_

**[Don't thank me yet.]**

_'Good. Point.'_

"H-Hey douchebag. Bet you only use a big knife 'cause y-you've got a small dick!"

The man stopped his next attempted attack and stood their stunned. Before he could process what Izuku said, the teen charged. He sprinted forward and materialized his trusty pipe. With all his strength, he swung it at the man's leg. It collided and he heard a sickening crack followed by an excruciating scream of pain.

"**AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU FUCKIN' SHIT! YOU BROKE MY KNEECAP! FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUU!**"

Izuku stepped back swiftly and the man fell onto his side, body thumping against the concrete as he continued to scream in pain holding his injured leg.

**"FUCK! FUCK! MIKE! FUCKING KILL HIM! NOW!"**

The teen continued to back away. Now that the taller man was grovelling on the ground, he felt a little more confident that he could take on his smaller, stockier henchmen.

"Shit Steve. I'm going!" He pushed the woman next to him to the ground. She fell to her knees but remained silent, only slightly smiling. She knew the boy would be alright since he'd managed to fell the evidently faster and stronger of the two. There was no chance that the other would pose a threat. She was wrong.

**[Quest: Damsel in Distress]**

**[Description: Oh my goodness! It seems like there's a lady in need of saving. What will you do hero? Defeat the two thugs and the save the woman, of course!]**

**[Reward: 1500 XP, Random Item, + Relationship with [Unknown] ]**

**[Failure: Death. You're still a bum.]**

**[Accept] [Deny]**

_'Not right now System! God damn it! Fine! Accept!'_

**[Don't blame me. It was automatically generated due to the circumstances. Another power of the System. Well, me.]**

Mike screeched out in rage and bolted towards the boy ready to slice him to pieces. However, instead of attempting the same move as his companion, the thug threw the blade directly at Izuku. It whistled through the air and hit him directly in the side.

The boy gritted his teeth and attempted the same tactic as before. He hoped the man would be as explosive. He pulled out the knife in his, his skin stitching up before the thugs very eyes.

"T-That's a-all you got? Weak! Even my G-Grandma could kick your ass."

Unfortunately, the man wasn't as swayed by the teen's attempt to taunt him and instead he laughed.

"You're a freak... Some kinda' regeneration quirk, huh? That won't save you. Steve was stupid but I'm not. I'm gonna kill you, then I'm gonna have some fun with the lady behind me. Aint' that right, beautiful?"

The woman looked on in shock and guilt. She pondered why she continued to sit there, doing nothing. She was letting an innocent boy be hurt by the likes of a criminal. He was younger than her. He had his whole life ahead of him! It should be her taking the beating, not him!

She stood on her feet shakily whilst 'Mike' was busy taunting the boy.

"Hey, dickhead!" She screamed passionately. "Screw you and your dumbass of a friend. Well actually, I can't."

She smirked.

"How exactly are we meant to have fun when your dick bruised and battered?"

She swung her foot in an arc. It seemed to blur and was about to make a deep indent on Mike's genitalia but was blocked by the hand of gritting Steve who had managed to clamber over to his acquaintance

"F-u-c-k you."

"That's not very nice."

The blonde bent her leg inwards then proceeded to violently shake it. The air around her leg blurred once again as the taller Thug attempted to hold on. After only a few seconds, he was thrown off and impacted a nearby wall, blood dribbling down his face.

"Didn't know you two were into playing it rough. If you're really into that, I have a friend who specializes in that area."

She winked seductively and motioned for Mike to come.

The man obviously couldn't take it any longer. His face a deep scarlet and his skin wrinkled and the pressure he was exerting. Whilst he could stave off the words of the teenager previously, he wasn't able to hide his anger when he was picked on by the very woman that he had subdued. She was meant to be their play-thing. How dare she speak up!?

The angered assailant sprinted towards the woman and threw a punch directly at her head. Before it could impact, his hand was met with the resistance of a cold metal bar and was stopped in its tracks. The man felt the bones in his fingers grind against each other as he pulled his fist back.

"Damn it! You little shit! When the hell did you get there!?"

"Just now."

Izuku planted a hard kick to the man's chest then followed with an uppercut using the bent end of his pipe. It struck the man's chin but only seemed to sink into his skin before rebounding.

The man laughed at his attempt and waltzed back.

"You think that's going to do something to me? I'll tell you something, boy. Before you and that dumb broad die, you should know why you failed. My quirk is airbag. My skin acts as a protective barrier against blunt force attacks and stops my internal body from being injured."

He grinned evilly and motioned to his exposed body.

"It's several layers thick but still as malleable as normal. I'm basically a moving tank. Anytime you hit me, it'll only bounce off or be absorbed. That's the difference between us! You're both weak and I'm strong! Nothing you do will damage me!"

_'How am I meant to combat this? I'm limited to hitting him with blunt objects. I don't have anything that can do real damage and that lady seems to be limited to physical attacks as well.'_

"What? Are you suddenly scared? Not gonna say anything?"

Izuku turned to the woman and whispered in her ear.

"U-Uh, M'am, is it possible that you could just keep him busy for a minute? I-I've got an idea..."

She smiled at the boys' politeness. Even in a situation like this, he seemed so innocent. Even after she had seen him so aggressively shatter a man's kneecap.

"Yeah, no problem kid. Do what you gotta do."

The thug and the woman charged each other, fists meeting in mid-air. The attack threw her back but also the man. They then charged again. This continued whilst Izuku was busy attempting something new.

_'System, you said I have HP and MP bars, right?'_

**[Right. Why?]**

_'How do I bring them up?'_

**[Just think 'Status bars' and they'll appear.]**

_'Status bars!'_

**[Izuku Midoriya]**

**[HP 90/150]**

**[MP 100/100]**

_'That seems like an awfully small amount of MP... and my HP's really down. Shit! Wait a minute!'_

He opened his inventory and scoffed down two pieces of bread and a small cheese wheel.

_'Power eating!'_

**[Bread Roll: +20 HP x2, +20 MP x 2]**

**[Small Cheese Wheel: +10 HP, +10MP]**

_'Hell yeah! That worked flawlessly!' _

He smiled gratefully at his newfound power and laughed inwardly at how much it reminded him of Skyrim, one of his favourite new generation games. _'_

_'Now for that plan. System, how do I use mana?'_

**[That's easy. Feel for the power in your body and draw it out. Then do some cool shit with it.]**

The boy faltered for a second at the bluntness of the voices statement.

_'U-Uh ok. Thanks...'_

Izuku sat cross-legged and attempted to meditate. It was tough due to the constant shouting of the two adults who were currently duelling, but after 30 seconds of letting his mind blank, he stopped. He felt a warm pool of what felt like a liquid within his core and drew on it.

When he opened his eyes, there was a swarm of green energy spinning rapidly in his hand. The teen grinned and subconsciously formed the mass of power into a bolt.

_'I did it! But a bolt is kinda lame...'_

**[Skill Created: Mana Manipulation]**

**[Mana Manipulation (Level 1): Bit of wizard, are you? Using your internal pool of mana, you can create constructs of power to be used in defense or attack. It can even be used to augment items! Damage depends on **_**Intelligence **_**and perks. +10 Mana Points for every level as your pool expands from overuse and +5% damage to mana based attacks!]**

"M-Miss, let's switch up! I'm ready!"

The blonde turned back and flipped out of the way of her enemies' attack, landing on her feet perfectly.

"He's all yours, kiddo."

Midoriya ran towards Mike and sprung off the ground. Whilst mid-air, he swung his pipe inwardly towards the man's head. Knowing he wouldn't take any damage, Mike stood still. The boy mentally observed the man before he hit.

**[Common Thug]**

**[Name: Mike]**

**[Age: 35]**

**[Level: 12]**

**[HP: 400/500]**

"Concussive heavy swing!"

The pipe that Izuku held suddenly glowed a bright blue. It impacted with a thud and knocked the man back several feet. When he had stopped tumbling, Mike groaned and felt a pain forming in his head.

**[Critical area hit! x3 Damage!]**

**[Damage: 225]**

**[HP: 175/500]**

**[Status Added: Confused]**

**[Status Added: Concussed]**

"H-How did you damage me? You hit me with a blunt weapon. It shouldn't have done anything..."

The man's words were heavily slurred.

"That's where you're wrong."

Izuku felt his confidence rise.

"Just because 'Airbag' stops the blunt force, doesn't mean it protects from concussive force."

**[I may be an all-knowing System, but even I don't understand what that means, Izuku.]**

_'I concentrated mana into a single point and turned made sure it was weak but incredibly unstable. When it impacted his chin, it was set off, like a landmine. The physical damage was nullified, but the light produced by the small explosion and the sound wasn't. For all intents and purposes, it was a flashbang.'_

**[I... I don't even know what to say. You came up with that in a single minute?]**

Izuku blushed slightly at the praise and stuttered, even in his thoughts.

_'I-I-It was really simple... Just a little bit of science and...'_

**[S-Scary...]**

Whilst System was busy chattering in fear over Izuku's genius, the teen watched his opponent. The man tried to clamber to his feet but the pain was too overbearing. He passed out and flopped to the ground like a fish out of water. The woman, now standing next to Izuku, smacked him on the back.

**[Enemy has out due to status conditions]**

"You did well, kid. That was a hell of a fight."

Izuku turned to her stuttered his words. He had been in the presence of a woman before, let alone been praised by one.

"A-Ah, t-t-thank you! I-it was nothing though..."

"It was something, though. You literally saved my life. I could've been killed or taken advantage of. I can't thank you enough."

She bent down and collected her drop purse and items. The teen couldn't help but stare at her.

**[Something caught your eye, hey, you horny beast?]**

_'S-Shut up, System.'_

"U-Uh. Really? You seem like y-you had it under control, Miss."

She turned to him.

"Don't call me 'Miss.' I'm not that old." She giggled. "And I'm not even married, even though I should be by now."

She flicked her bangs out of her eyes.

"My name is Yu Takeyama. A pleasure to meet you~"

"O-Oh likewise!"

**[You dolt, you haven't even told her your name!]**

"I will!"

Yu looked on in confusion at the boys' outburst. Izuku rubbed his head sheepishly in response.

"I mean, I _will_ tell you my name! I-It's Izuku Midoriya."

The taller woman stared and the boy then pounced him. Once she had a hold of him, she rubbed his green curls and pinched his cheeks.

"So. God. Damn. Cute! God, why have you hidden something like this from me for so long!"

Izuku blushed and started muttering under his breath while the woman continued to fondle his hair in fascination.

"M-M-Mi-"

"Not Miss, Izuku. Yu! Big sister Yu!"

"O-Oh, ummmm... B-Big sister Yu... W-What do we do about the criminals?"

The woman looked back at the fallen victims of the adorable youth. She pulled out her phone, snapped a picture of them, then of Izuku and her hugging.

"Selfie. For memories, of course."

The boy nodded.

"As for those criminals, I'll call the police now. You just sit tight and wait for a little. We'll have it all figured out soon, 'kay cutie? ~"

The boy nodded again, not knowing what to say.

Yu walked away, dialling 911 quickly whilst Izuku was left to think over the past twenty minutes.

**[Mission completed! Damsel in Distress.]**

**[Reward: 1500 XP, Random Item (Find in Inventory), + Relationship with Yu Takeyama!]**

Izuku waved away the menu and felt his adrenaline disappearing. Somehow the day had turned from training into a battle to save both his own life and the life of an innocent. He felt it well up inside him. The pride and happiness of saving a life. He was a hero. He'd saved a life. It felt... good.

He couldn't get any more emotional or he'd start crying. He realized shortly after this though, that even if he felt pride, he also felt regret. The power that had flowed through his body was like a drug.

It had him on a high, and he had completely forgotten that his enemies were human. When he heard the sickening crunch of the man's leg bones, he had been blown out of this stupor. Somewhere deep down inside of him, he felt pleasure in injuring those who had done harm to others, but he had also felt a massively overwhelming feeling of guilt and sickness. He knew it had to be done. He knew he shouldn't feel remorse, but he did. Well, actually, he didn't know how to feel at all.

**[Congratulations, Izuku Midoriya. You have reached level 5! +15 attribute points. +30 QP]**

Izuku gasped softly. He had forgotten just how many rewards the quest would give him. Immediately he threw away his previous train of logic and focused on the message.

Level 5 was still small. The weak quirk user, 'Mike', was level 12 already, and he was a low-scale threat and villain. Practically street scum. He'd likely be nothing compared to a real villain. That worried Izuku slightly but the teen was still happy. Level 5 meant he was getting stronger overall. Eventually, he'd be able to stand side to side with the other heroes of his generation.

Yu was still on the phone, so Midoriya took the chance to quickly open his inventory. Inside, there was a slot filled with what looked like a box. When clicked on, it displayed an information panel.

**[Random Item Box. Quality: Common.]**

**[This box contains random items generated oh so graciously by the System. The items are pulled from a pool. The pool includes weapons, items, etc from games, anime, books, manga, and comics. Therefore, you have a chance of receiving some legendary weapon! Though the chances are incredibly, incredibly low. Like, struck by lightning low. Like, eaten by a shark riding a meteor low. You get it.]**

_'So cool' _the teen yelled to no-one in particular.

He immediately thought of opening the box and another screen appeared.

**[What category would you like to open?]**

**[Weapon]**

**[Armor]**

**[Powerups]**

**[Misc]**

The teen selected weapons and suddenly, there was a strange noise. Izuku saw a large wheel appear before him.

**[It's time to spin the wheel! Give it all you've got, champ!]**

**[Spin!]**

Izuku pressed on it, and the wheel began to move. It was slow at first but grew faster eventually becoming less and less distinct.

The teen willed the wheel to stop and suddenly, it slowed again, finally landing on an object that had been blacked out.

**[Congratulations! You've received a pair of blade resistant steel gloves from Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism!]**

The gloves appeared in Izuku's inventory, and he immediately observed them.

**[Blade Resistant Steel Gloves: A pair of gloves reinforced with steel. First worn by Nomura Fudou. Able to protect the wearers' hands from bladed attacks and physical strain. Also, doubles as an offensive weapon if the wearer is in a brawl or practices martial arts.]**

**[Durability: 100/100]**

**[Base Damage: 100]**

**[Perks: +20 HP, -50% damage from bladed attacks within a certain threshold.]**

The teen smiled. These seemed pretty amazing, especially with that increase in health and that defense from bladed attacks. Would've helped if he had them earlier though. He equipped them instantaneously. They fit perfectly. The boy wondered whether learning martial arts to make full use of them would be a good idea. At least then, he'd be able to protect himself against jerks using a knife.

_'Knife... Say, System, I got hit by that guy's dagger and was stabbed by another, and yet was able to pull it out with no damage to my body.'_

He felt the area where the knife had impacted. There was no wound, only slightly dried and crusty blood. There wasn't any pain either. It was... strange.

**[That's because of... Drum roll please!]**

_'Just say it, please.'_

**[Nope. You cut me off. You have to find out yourself now. I've decided not to help you. Go look in skills.]**

The boy sighed and opened his skill menu. Apart from Mana manipulation, he couldn't see anything new. That was until he re-read the menu.

**[Gamers Body (Level N/A): Your body is that of a game character. You don't take any **_**real**_** damage. If you are hurt, you'll lose HP but won't be physically hurt. If you lose all your HP, you'll still die. No respawns. You aren't that over-powered.]**

_'That's overpowered!'_

**[Eh, not really. Sure, you don't take actual damage, but you can still be killed easily. You aren't a God. People keep stabbing you and you lose all that HP. Simple as that. Don't get cocky. That'll be your end.]**

_'I know, I know. I understand I'm not invincible. Thanks for the reality check though, System.'_

**[No problem Kiddo.]**

_'Kiddo? You ARE old!'_

**[N-No! I meant fellow teen!]**

_'Sure you did.'_

The blare of sirens echoed throughout the alleyway as two police cars arrived on the scene. Their flashing lights bathed the area in a deep red and blue glow. Many officers in blue stepped out, guns trained on the villains.

"Scoundrels. Absolute scoundrels. Seriously. Trying to kill a child and such a beautiful woman."

From behind the rest of the police stepped a rather tall man. Far taller than both Yu and Izuku. He wore a brown trench coat with suit and tie barely visible underneath, a bowler hat that matched his coat and a pair of white gloves. His hair was cut short and his face was rather plain, holding a simple look of dismay.

"Get 'em boys."

He motioned towards the two knocked out criminals then whispered to the officer next to him.

"_I've always wanted to say that."_

The two knocked out criminals were woken and cuffed then forcibly escorted to the back of the cars and roughly shoved inside. When they were seated and the doors shut, the arresting officer walked over to Izuku and Yu who were watching in fascination and morbid pleasure. He introduced himself as Naomasa Tsukauchi.

"So, Miss Takeyama here says you took down the criminals on your own."

Izuku looked down in shame but still maintained his composure. He knew the reason why he was asking. Those who used their quirks in public or for 'vigilante' purposes, were subject to consequences including fines and possibly even jail time.

"I-I did. She was in great danger you see and-"

The man took off his fedora and held pinched his brow, attempting to massage out a newly formed headache.

"Look, Izuku. You sound like a good kid. I'm sure you understood that Miss Takeyama here was in great danger. And I'm sure you didn't mean to use your quirk in public. And I'm sure you only protected her because-"

"Because my legs just started moving. I couldn't help it!"

The man smiled grimly.

"I know someone just like that. He's an absolute idiot. This is only your first offense of vigilantism and quirk usage so we're going to be lenient. You'll only receive a 'slap on the wrist' as they call it. That's already been done. We'll leave it at that."

He turned to Yu and stared her down.

"Now, Miss Takeyama. You have a pro-hero license, correct? Why exactly didn't you defend yourself? Why did you let the boy here risk his life?"

Yu returned the stare ferociously. It was a matchup between two ferocious beasts, and neither would let up without their side winning.

"Well, Mr. Tsukauchi, I'm sure if you looked at my hero ID, you'd notice my quirk was gigantification. Surely, I could not use that in the street otherwise I'd risk damaging the buildings and potentially endangering the lives of their occupants."

"I understand that but you're saying that a hero doesn't know some sort of self-defence? Some martial arts maybe?"

"I'm not even a pro-hero yet. I haven't had my debut. And I'm not fully registered with the hero association. Not to mention, my attacks didn't do anything to that other man. 'Mike' I think it was. His quirk was airbag. It basically nullified the damage of my attacks. I was only able to match him in a stalemate."

The man grimaced then accepted that she wouldn't back down and walked away.

"Ugh... These new heroes. Always 'I did this-"

His voice trailed off. Yu's smile returned and she grappled Izuku who was slowly walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The teen squeaked and hunched his shoulders.

"I'm g-going home Miss Takeyama... Also, I didn't know you were a hero..."

She let go and looked at him with a soft smile.

"Remember, not Miss, it's Big Sister Yu, ok?" She patted his head. "And yes. Well, I'm a hero in training now. Even though I left UA a while ago now, I still have to fix certain areas like my combat. _Then _I must work with a larger hero for at least 6 months before I can have my debut and go solo, as I mentioned."

He looked at her, a sense of awe now prevalent in his voice.

"B-Big sis Yu..." He flushed a light pink. "You're really awesome. I want to be like you. Like All-Might. A hero. I want to attend UA!"

She gently patted his head.

"I'm sure you'll be a great hero, Izu." She gently patted his head.

"Are you sure?" He gulped. "Well, the problem is, my quirk is really weak. I didn't even have one up until only a couple days ago."

Yu felt a tingle and the emergence of goosebumps all over her body but was mostly focused on the boy trembling under her hands.

"Wait then how did you-"

"I've trained it as much as I could." He motioned to himself and patted his body. "That's how. I've tried to catch up with the rest of my generation but it takes up a lot of time and effort."

"You don't have to say anymore, Izuku. You barely know me after all..."

"I just... feel like I can trust you."

He smiled drearily, his shaking growing more violent all the while.

"We did just bond over a life and death situation, no? That tends to bring people a little closer than normal."

"I've never told anyone... And you're the first to know about my quirk. I tried to save you. T-Tried to be a hero. In the end, I barely did anything. That's not the worst thing. I understand heroes must do what they do for a reason. I love heroes. But now..."

"I won. I won the battle, but at what cost? I... I could've been a killer. There was even a part of me t-that enjoyed it."

His nails dug into his skin and his knuckles turned white from the pressure he was exerting.

"Miss Takeyama. No, Big sis Yu, I... I don't know what to do..."

Tears began rolling down his cheeks. They gently dropped to the floor, landing softly with a small thud.

"And y-you were almost... You were a-almost... How can I be a hero when you were almost..."

He trailed off.

The woman stood in stunned silence then immediately pulled the boy into a warm hug, wrapping her arms around him protectively.

"Izuku. Don't you dare blame yourself, ok?"

She wiped the tears from his eyes with her free hand and gently ran her other hand through his locks.

"I've only just met you but you've brought me such happiness. You saved my LIFE, Izuku. My life. If you hadn't done what you did, I could have very well have ended up..."

She coughed.

"Never mind that. Look, my gratitude is forever with you but that's not what matters right now, is it?"

The boy shook his head slowly, still sniffling.

"Those men. They were bad people. Really, really bad people, Izuku. They were monsters. What you did was completely within your jurisdiction. You want to a hero, right?"

He nodded.

"Then you shouldn't feel too bad about, ok? You weren't going out of your way to torture them or to be malicious. Treat it as a learning experience for the future. Just be softer next time. Let this lesson weave its way into your heart. Remember this moment the next time you're fighting someone on the side of villainy. Remember this feeling. I promise you, you'll never go south."

**[Look at you go. You're a monster. Seducing innocent women with your innocent looks when in truth you have a ravenous hunger.]**

_'Shu-Shut up, System."_

The two stayed like this for several minutes before the boys' tears ran dry. He fell back from the hug and turned his face up towards Yu, eyes sparkling with renewed vigour.

"Thanks for that. I don't usually get so emotional."

"It's alright, Izuku. We all need to let it out sometimes. Hell, even I, a beautiful partial hero need to cry when I'm watching a soap opera, which I'm incredibly fond of, by the way."

**[Noted down!]**

_'SYSTEM!'_

**[You'll thank me later when you're a little more mature.]**

Yu's mouth twitched into a slight grin and she poked his chest.

"Now, shouldn't you be heading home, young man? Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Oh, yeah, it is. I-I should probably go now."

"You have a phone or something?"

The boy pulled out his sleek looking smartphone.

"Y-Yeah I do. The latest Samsung. Why?"

"You're going to put my number in."

"I-I-I... A girls number... I must be dreaming."

"No, you certainly aren't, otherwise I couldn't do this."

She bent down slightly and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"That's a personal reward for _my hero. ~"_

The teen began sputtering and his face grew a candescent red. It was so bright that the officers remaining on scene swore they were staring directly into the sun. It took him several minutes to calm down.

"Ara~ You don't want my number after all, Izu?"

"N-No I do! I was just-"

"I was joking."

She patted his head and he pouted.

"It's 053-8255665. Put it in!"

She considered her wording.

"Well, you're a bit too young for that, Midoriya. Maybe when you're older."

"Huh?"

**[She means doing the deed, Izuku. Come on. You're almost 16!]**

Izuku's face exploded into red once again.


End file.
